Akira Hongo/Skills
Skills Sakaki mentions that as a master, Akira makes his disciple completely understand all his moves and even states that Akira is considered one of the strongest amongst the Nine Fists, also the best of them at raising disciples. Throughout his rivalry with Sakaki, he was able to defeat Sakaki, who was considered by many the greatest master-level martial artist in karate, 126 times compared to Sakaki's 125, earning him one victory over Sakaki's record. This would make him at least on par with, if not slightly better than Sakaki. However, before their 251st fight, Sakaki had chosen the path of Katsujinken while Akira had chosen Satsujinken, so Akira was able to fight with all of his strength whereas Sakaki held back to prevent himself from killing him. It is also mention that even thought Sakaki says it was his loss, Akira considers it his loss because he didn't managed to finished Sakaki. Rachel Stanley mentioned as well that Akira was a man whom her master, Diego Carlo, acknowledged as superior to him. While a Sei-Type and true master of it, he is more than willing to allow his emotional build up, specifically anger, fuel his attacks. Despite the seeming recklessness of it, he is is able to remain focused enough to not lose his edge in battle, rather enhance his already formidable prowess. Even against Silkwat Junazard, a senior member of Yami and the only character to have ever given Hayato Furinji, the Invincible Superman a hard time, he was able to defeat and ultimately kill the warrior despite the grievous wounds he recieved from him, which is a testament to his skills. Most recently, during the Eternal Sunset, He was able to defeat Michael Schtilvay, a Grand Master and member of the Hachiou Executioner Blade with seemingly little effort. *'Immense Tenacity: '''His greatest attribute was not his power nor his technique, but his tenacity, something even his rival Sakaki is fully respectful of, as shown when Sakaki did not interfere with his death match against Junazard to the end, believing that Hongō will defeat Junazard. Even up against Junazard, one of the strongest in the nine fist, he still maintained his cool and fought putting his life on the line numerous times just to land a decisive hit on his opponent. He allowed himself to be knocked down once in order to use his ultimate move for the first time and allowed himself to be mortally wounded by Junazard (though it was revealed that he used 'Naizouage to survive) All these was to prepare for the final exchange with Junazard which gave him the largest opening to strike the decisive hit. Even Junazard admitted that he's someone with exraordinary tenacity when he was hit. After the battle, despite the injuries he sustained, he refused to take anestesia for his treatment, insisting that he can stay still of his own free will. *'''Immense Strength: Several martial artists tried to stop him by trying to hold him all at once but he kept striding forward normally. He also sent the group flying when he released his ki. He is capable of just stepping in stone to keep himself from falling from the angle with ease. With just a kick he can shatter the ground in a shockwave and even use a golden like training ring and spin it like nothing. *'Immense Endurance:' Hongō has shown to have an inhuman amount of endurance, as he took several of Sakaki's best moves and was able to keep fighting as if it hardly affected him. Even by slaming himself to the ground to escape Junazard's grip he took little damage. He's also shown to have a high tolerance for pain, as he dislocated his right arm and his left leg simultaneously and only barely grunted in response. Even when Junazard struck inside his body and caused a great amount of pain and blood to come out, Hongō only grunted at the pain and was able to keep fighting. Even after taking several critical blows from Junazard that broke his bones in his arms and legs and lost a considerable amount of blood, Hongō was able to rise back up and strike back with a counterattack and eventually, Hongō was able to strike at that moment for one last attack and despite Junazard rushing his hands inside his body, Hongō was able to deliver the killing blow and defeat Junazard. *'Immense Sei Ki:' Even Kenichi, who has already encountered Ki from master level opponents several times, finds Akira's Ki unbelievable and intimidating. Shigure, who rarely fears any enemies, find him extraordinary within a few seconds of exchanging blows. On top of that, it is hinted that he was suppressing his ki all these time. When he mention Sakaki to Kenichi, he released vast amount of ki that completely surprised Kenichi. After which, Elder appears and stops Miu from pursuing Akira, stating that "he is dangerous". This is the second time Elder stated something like this, second to Silkwat Junazard whom Elder commented that he had a tough fight with. His Ki is extremely immense to the point where when it clashes with Sakaki who's ki he is incompatible with does nothing but create a destructive force. Both Kenichi and Miu note that his ki is nothing like they have seen before. And when fully released along with Sakaki even more so, to the point where even those with a relatively strong heart cannot stay in the area. *'Acute Senses': He is able to hear the chime of his disciple's broken caged bird earring from within the village while staring down at it from a hilltop. He is able to completely avoid Shigure's sword strikes and Apachai's attacks even though he was carrying one of his disciples. *'Keen Intellect': Despite his rugged appearance, Hongō as repeatedly shown to be a very perceptive and tactical individual, as he immediately knew Kenichi was lying about how Sho died from protecting Miu and not Kenichi like he said. Even against someone who's known for being a very crafty manipulator like Junazard, Hongō was able to outsmart him near the end of their fight and even fool him by using his injured arm a second time from using the same move on him again and defeat him with it. *'Immense Speed': Upon hearing the chime, he almost instantaneously arrives at the home that Kenichi and Miu were investigating. He is fast enough to exchange a battle of offense and defense of the highest level with Sakaki in an instant and the only way to keep up with the speed was to not watch with the normal eye but the inner eye. Despite this, His level of speed is so high that even Miu who was used to the battles of a master lost the ability to see the battle against Sakaki due to the overwhelming speed in which they were battling.